Iwagumi 3ft

[matashi]

Hi all,

As I have failed in my previous 2 tries of iwagumi, I think it is all because of my lighting problem and water temperature heat that cause all my dsm HC to melt within weeks of flooding. I then used cheap plants to try out the setup of the new lights, positioning of inlet outlet and added chiller. It's working great with pearling everyday. So I decided to try for iwagumi again.

Hope they will not melt again

Just finished scaping
Attachment 43239

Comments welcome

[magpie]

Good luck for your new setup.

[matashi]

Attachment 43240
Plants are in!

Flora: HC, Japan hairgrass and hydrocotyle tripartita

[matashi]

Used some black boards from bookstore to separate the territories of the different plants. Prevent creeping to another plants' area
Attachment 43241

[matashi]

Attachment 43268
Added more plants today

[fireblade]

I think this barrier is too low... plants will crawl over in no time...

Used some black boards from bookstore to separate the territories of the different plants. Prevent creeping to another plants' area
Attachment 43241

[matashi]

I think this barrier is too low... plants will crawl over in no time...

Ooh. What else can I do? Don't want the barrier to show up in the tank

[sheng]

Can use transparent acrylic sheet

[matashi]

Oh yeah! Why didn't I think of that!

[matashi]

It's been barely 1 week and I am itching to flood it.......

[Everlance]

It's been barely 1 week and I am itching to flood it.......

thats alot of hc that you have added. are you using tropica 1-2 grow? i flood my hc from day 1 with no issues using 1-2 grow.

[matashi]

Haha with that amount of HC, using tropica 1-2 grow will probably bankrupt me.

[Everlance]

Haha with that amount of HC, using tropica 1-2 grow will probably bankrupt me.

i know right... hahah... play safe better. continue dsm. try to keep the hc moist most of the time to get it slightly used to submerge form. PATIENCE!!!

[matashi]

I just flooded...... all still clinging. Only 1 small patch floated when the first gush of water came out from the outflow

[matashi]

Attachment 43409
Attachment 43410
Attachment 43411

Updating 1 day after flooding
Dsm for 1 week, doesn't seem to be holding well yet

[matashi]

Last night found a couple more patches of HC floated up because of the pearling. Thinking to turn off co2 for a few days to minimize the pearling and let the roots dig deeper first. Possible?

[edenk]

Having the same issues with my HC as well.
In the end, I just glued them to some drift root and bury under the substrate.

[wongce]

Hi TS, you should plant HC 1 to few strands of plant at a time to maximize growth. Planting them in bunch does not help growth but actually causes the whole bunch to float up.

HC is a slow starter, so dsm for 1 week may not be sufficient. Since you already flooded, just keep it that way...

Serioisly, the amount of HC you used is really a lot...lol

[matashi]

Yah, I can't arch my back for so long to plant the HC strand by strand. It's going to break my back first . Today no co2, less pearling but no floating HC

[matashi]

But I do have a problem with snails digging deep in the soil. Causing my scape land to become uneven. Been picking them off 1 by 1 using tweezers but I think there are probably much more inside where I can't see. They were left behind from my old setup....

Anything or medicine I can use to kill them off and not affect the plants?